VISA WAIVER PROGRAM: INAUGURAL MEETING OF CONSULAR

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 VILNIUS 000714

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

STATE FOR EUR/NB, EUR/PPD, CA/VO, FSI/SPAS/CON, FRANKFURT
FOR RCO - BARBARA ARMSTRONG

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: CVIS PREL KPAO LH
SUBJECT: VISA WAIVER PROGRAM: INAUGURAL MEETING OF CONSULAR
WORKING GROUP IN LITHUANIA

REFS: A. STATE 98032


B. STATE 67069

C. STATE 26010

D. VILNIUS 410

E. VILNIUS 276

F. VILNIUS 162


1. SUMMARY: Embassy and MFA officials discussed next steps
to accomplish the items listed in Lithuania's roadmap for
the Visa Waiver Program (VWP) at the inaugural meeting of
the Consular Working Group (CWG). We discussed Lithuanian
progress on meeting the requirements for sharing lost/stolen
passport information and briefed on Lithuania's visa refusal
and overstay rates, which all agreed was Lithuania's largest
obstacle to qualifying for VWP. Lithuanian interlocutors
offered us training on detecting fraud in Lithuanian
passports and reiterated their desire to send officials on a
Voluntary Visitor program to Washington. We agreed to
expand public outreach efforts on visa issues, identifying
several cooperative activities for the near-term. We expect
our CWG, as a working level forum, to remain focused on
addressing Roadmap issues in a collegial, cooperative
manner. END SUMMARY.


2. Participants:

Embassy Vilnius
Ruta D. Elvikis, Consul
Anthony A. Pahigian, Public Affairs Officer
Christian Yarnell, Vice Consul

Lithuania
Vaidotas Verba, Director of the Consular Department,
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Petras Anusas, Deputy Director of the Consular Department
Rimgaudas Losys, Director of the Visas Division, Consular
Department
Marijus Petrusonis, Attache, Consular Department


3. The first official meeting of our CWG was held at the
Lithuanian MFA on June 29, 2005. The Lithuanian
interlocutors emphasized their desire to keep CWG meetings
on an informal level (refs D and F) and immediately got down
to business.

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Combating Passport Fraud
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3. We raised the importance of improving reporting of lost
and stolen Lithuanian passports to the U.S. Department of
Homeland Security (DHS),points recently added to
Lithuania's Roadmap using the language contained in State

111324. The MFA officials responded that Lithuania is now
reporting all such cases directly to Interpol, through
which, they thought, DHS should also receive the
information. They promised to confirm this. Should DHS not
be receiving the data in a timely manner, Verba said,
Lithuania would be happy to explore a different method of
transfer to DHS.


4. Verba briefed the group on Lithuania's recent discovery
of cases of high-quality photo-substitution of their new
passports. He noted that the fraud is difficult to detect
with special training, which is now being provided to
Lithuanian consular officials. He offered to help arrange a
similar training session for our Embassy employees. We
gladly accepted the offer, and also expressed our desire to
help arrange future training by a DHS fraud expert in
Vilnius for Lithuanian border guard, immigration and
consular officials. We also invited MFA officials to
observe our visa interviews to improve their understanding
of U.S. immigration law as it is applied and the current
state of Lithuanian readiness for VWP, as well as provide
context for the MFA in handling complaints from disgruntled
visa applicants. Verba expressed interest in this and
promised to get back to us to make arrangements.
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VWP a Long-Term Goal
--------------


5. We briefed the group on Lithuania's refusal and overstay
rates, sharing the Lithuanian adjusted refusal rates
provided post by the Department. The CWG agreed that the
high refusal rate (42.9% in FY 2004) and corollary overstay
rate are the primary obstacles to Lithuanian VWP accession.
The Lithuanian interlocutors reiterated their understanding
that VWP accession would not occur overnight. We affirmed
our commitment to conduct a new validation study using post-
EU accession data and asked for the Lithuanian officials'
assistance in measuring the current overstay rate. While
they were uncertain about their ability to help in measuring
this rate, they reaffirmed their willingness to publicly
encourage Lithuanian citizens to use their visas properly.
(any specifics on offer here?)

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PD Efforts and Voluntary Visitor Trip
--------------


6. The CGW discussed possible public diplomacy efforts and
agreed on two joint PD projects that that could be
accomplished in the short term:

-- A joint radio interview to discuss the Visa Waiver, the
Roadmap, and other visa issues.
-- A consular "roadshow" with Embassy and MFA officials to
take the discussion on the Roadmap and other visa issues to
smaller towns across Lithuania. The first in a series of
such visits would be to a city with a history of producing
economic migrants.


7. Verba reiterated his desire to send two or three
Lithuanian officials on the Voluntary Visitor program being
planned by Embassy Warsaw as well as for discussions on
consular training and management practices. We requested
biographical information for the proposed VolVis
participants for submission to the Department.

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Comment: A Productive, Informal Forum
--------------


8. While visa waiver is an important long-term objective for
the GOL, its interest is tempered by a realistic
understanding by its consular team of the work still to be
done to qualify for participation. As a result, the Roadmap
process in Lithuania has thus far avoided politicization. As
long as it is not hijacked by outside political actors, we
expect the CWG to remain a working-level group focused on
visas and visa waiver. GOL officials agree with this
approach and committed to continuing the cooperation that
has marked our bilateral consular relationship for many
years.

KELLY